NEWS\\\ Insurance


Ship fires – finding the culprits


Risk management director at insurer TT Club, Peregrine Storrs-Fox highlights the increasing number of container ship fires and attempts to identify both the cause and solutions as part of the Club’s on- going Cargo Integrity campaign for greater safety in the container supply chain.


It has been a torrid year for cargo-related containership fi res, with reported incidents averaging one every 30 days – compared with every 60 days for the previous 20-plus years. The casualty rate in 2019


is uncomfortable reading for any industry stakeholder, whether shipper, ship operators or


logistics or insurance


provider. And with the percentage of uninsured cargo carried by the ships estimated at around 40%, the insurance industry should also prick up its ears. It might be hoped that


cargo owners are familiar with carriers’ liability provisions under standard bill of lading terms, but the appetite for all risks cover might increase when considering the legal fi re defence. Further, as fi res, whatever their cause, seem to be becoming more frequent, shippers need to understand their exposure not only to damage, loss and delay to their cargo but also in contributing signifi cant amounts in general average and/or salvage. While full details of the


incidents this year – and indeed those occurring through 2018 – will take time to emerge in the public domain (possibly through litigation), it is already clear that too many concern shipments of charcoal.


This


commodity, most oſt en used as fuel for barbecues and similar, has proved troublesome for the shipping industry for some time. It’s no surprise then that


the handling of charcoal, and specifi cally the maritime mode, was again considered at the IMO’s Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC) in September. The session was initiated by a detailed report issued by the German maritime authority arising from investigations into two ship fi res. The crucial issue related to


Special


Provision (SP925), which, where applicable, exempts the shipment from dangerous goods regulations. Without becoming too


technical, a German submission to CCC recommended


that


the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (see TT Club’s


‘Book it right


and pack it tight’ for more detail) no longer permits the transport of charcoal as non- hazardous cargo and requires additional steps on stowage on board ship. Importantly, the submission sought to delete SP925, although it proposes a new Special Provision. In a commenting submission, ICHCA, with support from TT Club, agreed with the basic premise that charcoal should always


be considered as


dangerous and the deletion of the Special Provision, but also proposed certain clarifi cations aimed at reducing the likelihood of misdeclaration. The current complexity –


and concern – over charcoal/ carbon in containers is set out in the guidelines published by CINS (http://www.cinsnet.com).


Inspections


TT Club – amongst other industry stakeholders – has long championed CTU inspections as a key weapon in the armoury to enhance safety and


combat poor there certain packing


practices. In the unit load industry, are


defi ned


standards – such as the CTU Code (https://preview.tinyurl. com/k69rjm8) or


the IMDG


Code – but these may well not be understood (the latter is mandatory, while the former is not). It was most interesting that the liability judgment handed down in the MSC Flaminia case stated clearly that the obligations of the stakeholders extended


to taking due attention of all circumstances, MM20 new A4 ad.indd 1 14/10/2019 16:22


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Issue 7 2019 - Freight Business Journal


beyond simple regulatory compliance. Moreover, there is an on going history of less than rigorous enforcement. One aspect of TT Club’s Cargo


Integrity campaign is working in collaboration with ICHCA and certain national authorities to promote a sea change in the recognition of the importance and


value facilitating of and


implementing, reporting


on


inspection programmes. ICHCA and TT Club have


regularly highlighted that most of the maritime nations in membership of IMO do not report on the results of container inspections; less than 3% of national


authorities do this,


which undermines key feedback and diminishes the perceived need for compliance. Reports to IMO from 2018 total less than 75,000 inspections on a packed annual container throughput estimated to exceed 130 million. During 2019, certain container


shipping lines who are members of the CINS undertook a pilot in both US and Europe to inspect a range of containers that would not ordinarily be selected for inspection under a government programme, in order to reveal something of the dangers that might exist on every voyage. The selection criteria deliberately sought a mix of import, transit and transhipment shipments, and almost half that were not declared as carrying dangerous


13


goods. The participants sought to


spot trends that would increase safety awareness, and industry and regulatory compliance, particularly to reduce shipboard incidents due to non-compliance with dangerous goods regulations. The fi ndings were evidence of a dramatically higher defi ciency than the government reports,


which are biased


towards exports of declared dangerous goods shipments.


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